The Uttarakhand High Court today issued notices against Central Election Commission, the State Election Commission and BJP’s Vikasnagar MLA, Munna Singh Chauhan, in response to a petition on EVM tampering.
According to news agency ANI, the High Court has directed the authorities to preserve the EVMs.
In the elections held in February this year Chauhan had defeated the Congress candidate, Navprabhat by over 6,000 votes.
Former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat had hinted at possible tampering of EVMs to tweak the poll outcome in Uttarakhand.
He had told reporters, “I want to thank ‘Modi Kranti’ (revolution) and EVM ‘chamatkar’ (miracle)… You know everything. I am not confusing you. I leave it to you to understand.”
In recent months several non-BJP parties have alleged tampering of the electronic voting machines by those allied to Hindutva.
The Aam Aadmi Party had blamed EVM tampering for the latest electoral success of the BJP in the MCD polls, where the latter won more than 180 seats despite 10 years of anti-incumbency and alleged misrule.
On repeated requests from the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) for VVPAT (voter verifiable printer audit trail) equipment to attach to EVMs, the Modi government has recently sanctioned Rs 3,000 for the purpose. The CEC proposes to use only VVPAT enabled EVMs for the next general elections due in 2019.